The anger and severity displayed by the English government towards the Jacobites were aggravated by the checks encountered upon the Continent by the coalition.  At the very moment when the Duke of Cumberland was defeating Charles Edward at Culloden, Antwerp was surrendering to Louis XV. in person:  Mons, Namur, and Charleroi were not long before they fell.  Prince Charles of Lorraine was advancing to the relief of the besieged places; Marshal Saxe left open to him the passage of the Meuse.  The French camp seemed to be absorbed in pleasures; the most famous actors from Paris were ordered to amuse the general and the soldiers.  On the 10th of October, in the evening, Madame Favart came forward on the stage.  “To-morrow,” said she, “there will be no performance, on account of the battle:  the day after, we shall have the honor of giving you Le Coq du Village.”  At the same time the marshal sent the following order to the columns which were already forming on the road from St. Tron to Liege, near the village of Raucoux:  “Whether the attacks succeed or not, the troops will remain in the position in which night finds them, in order to recommence the assault upon the enemy.”

[Illustration:  BRUSSELS——­159]

The battle of October 11 left the battle-field in the hands of the victors, the sole result of a bloody and obstinate engagement.  Marshal Saxe went to rest himself at Paris; the people’s enthusiasm rivalled and indorsed the favors shown to him by the king.  At the opera, the whole house rose at the entrance of the valiant foreigner who had dedicated his life to France; there was clapping of hands, and the actress who in the prologue took the character of Glory leaned over towards the marshal with a crown of laurel.  “The marshal was surprised, and refused it with profound bows.  Glory insisted; and as the marshal was too far off in the boxes for her to hand it to him, the Duke of Biron took the crown from Glory’s hands and passed it under Marshal Saxe’s left arm.  This striking action called forth fresh acclamations, ‘Hurrah! for Marshal Saxe!’ and great clapping of hands.  The king has given the marshal Chambord for life, and has even ordered it to be furnished.  Independently of all these honors, it is said that the marshal is extremely rich and powerful just now, solely as the result of his safe-conducts, which, being applicable to a considerable extent of country, have been worth immense sums to him.”  The second marriage of the dauphin—­who had already lost the Infanta—­with the Princess of Saxony, daughter of the King of Poland, was about to raise, before long, the fortune and favor of Marshal Saxe to the highest pitch:  he was proclaimed marshal-general of the king’s armies.